JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q3. The Servant's Prayer - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q3 (24:12-14) What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God? Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer? If not, then how?

What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God. Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer.
I think the servant offered a good prayer because I don't know how many girls would want to water 10 camels. Anyway he offered the prayer and was delighted with the answer. Obviously he thought she was the right girl besides the fact that she was beautiful and he trusted God to answer his prayer. Abraham said God would send his angel before him Gen.24:7 and I believe He did just that.The perfect girl came out at the perfect time and answered in the perfect way.
God promised Abraham a blessing to the world through his seed Isaac and Rebecca was the answer to the servants prayer hasty or not.
God Bless!
Jen
Numbers6:24-26

I think the servant's prayer and test of God took a great deal of faith in God to hear his prayer and to answer quickly. The servant did find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer because the servant recognized God's answer to his prayer and acted obediently to His answer.

Q3 (24:12-14) What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God? Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer? If not, then how?

It seems to show that he had learned from Abraham to believe in and trust the one Holy God to help him when in need.
I don't see where it says he was hasty in his praying--last minute, perhaps. But, also, perhaps just a continuation of his prayer as he journeyed there.
The proof of his conviction that God would help him is that God did help him. Why else did this girl come at just that right time, and say the things that the servant asked as a sign to tell him that this is the right one for Izaak?!
So many times, we are apt to consider what God has done to be merely a happy happenstance! How many times He has given me help that I could have brushed off as coincidence, but I've learned to expect and look for His answers! He never fails us! We fail to recognize His touch on our lives!

Pastor Ralph, on Oct 26 2004, 12:10 AM, said:

Q3 (24:12-14) What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God?

I think it shows faith and trust in God. All the servant is asking by the test of God is an affirmation. Affirmation is a good thing, this servant wants to make sure it is of God’s will and not of his own.

Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer?
I don’t think the prayer was hasty.

The Bible does not say how long we are to pray but that we should “pray without ceasing”, 1 Thess. 5:17 –21

Sometimes we pray so much that we don’t take time to listen to what the Lord is saying to us.
V. 19 this servant did not quench the Holy Spirit, but let the Spirit speak to him . . .

And then he worshiped God.
Gen. 24:26Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, 27saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives." (24:15-27)

If not, then how?
Yes, the servant got affirmation from the Lord.

Quote

[color="blue"]3a.) I think the servant is deperately wishing to fulfill his master's assignment and the servant's prayer reflects on how difficult a task it as. Remember, he had given an oath to Abraham. His word was important.[/color]
3b.) (24:12-14) Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer?
[color="blue"]3b.) He prayed and God answered with whom He had picked for Isaac. The servant was the willing instrument.[/color]
3c.) (24:12-14) If not, then how?
[color="blue"]3c.) The prayer may appear hasty, but it is from the heart and spontaneous. The servant is expressing his concerns and laying them before God.[/color]

Pastor Ralph, on Oct 26 2004, 12:10 AM, said:

[font="Times"][color="blue"]I don't see the servant's prayer as a "test of God". The servant once there just prayed a specific prayer, that he may know for sure which girl was to be Isaac's wife. Obviously the "right" girl came, and she came first, and he knew by the specifics of his prayer. His prayer was not hasty, it was well thought of in the moment, very specific. Nothing wrong with that.[/color][/font]

[font="Geneva"]Abraham’s servant neither offered a hasty prayer nor a test of God.

The journey to Nahor was a long one—several hundred miles—which would have taken 2-3 weeks to complete. During the journey Abraham’s servant would have much time to consider the task at hand. We don’t have any details of the trip, so we can’t say with certainty what spiritual practices occurred along the way. But we’re told that the servant swore an oath upon the name of God that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites—indicating that the servant recognized and feared the God of Abraham.

When the servant arrived in Nahor, he prayed to God to fulfill the promise Abraham spoke of before the trip—[color="green"]“The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, 'I will give this land to your offspring'—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.” (Gen 24:7).[/color]

The servant undoubtedly felt immense pressure to fulfill a seemingly insurmountable task—one that carried the responsibility that would normally be borne by Isaac’s father. His prayer was neither a “test of God”, nor “too little, too late”—it was wholly appropriate—and God sent forth Rebekah. [color="green"]“And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Mat 21:22)[/color]
[/font]

Q3 (24:12-14) What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God? Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer? If not, then how?


[color="green"]The servant came under an oath to his master. So he must have been praying earnestly to the God of his master to make this trip a successful one. Upon arriving in Nahor, he wants an assurance from God that he will send the right girl for selection. So has prays that simple prayer asking the Lord to fulfil the conditions laid down. This servant has learnt to have faith in the Lord just as his master. And the Lord answers his faith too. The servants prayer was faith based. He knew that the Lord will answer him. So he makes the conditions and in the process, gets the correct girl. The prayer was not hasty, but a well thought out simple prayer, seeking answers. How many times we beat around the bush, giving all kinds of excuses for our demands and supplications. We should learn to be direct with the Lord. He knows our needs. We need to be faithful in communion and fellowship with the Lord for results. [/color]

In reality, the servant sought to test the woman rather than God.

God directs men to get under way through the Scriptures. Nowhere is Abraham given a direct imperative to seek a wife for his son, but he does act on the basis of a clear inference from revelation. Abraham was to become a mighty nation through his son Isaac. Obviously Isaac must have children, and this necessitated a wife. Since his offspring would need to be faithful to God and to keep His covenant, the wife would need to be a godly woman. This implied that she could not be a Canaanite. Also, since God had promised “this land,” Isaac must not return to Mesopotamia.

God guides His children once under way by “his angel” . I believe that all true Christians are led by the Holy Spirit. He prepares the way for us to walk in His will and to sense His leading. We must proceed in faith just as Abraham did, knowing that God does guide.

The will of God was discerned through prayer. The servant submitted a plan to God whereby the woman who was to be Isaac’s wife would become evident. This was no fleece but rather a test of character. The servant could thereby determine the character of the women he would meet. God providentially (through circumstances) brought the right woman to the servant, and by her generous act of watering the camels she evidenced that she was His choice for Isaac’s wife.

The will of God was discerned through wisdom. No doubt Abraham sent this servant, his oldest and most trusted employee, because of his discernment. He obediently went to the “city of Nahor” and stationed himself beside the well where all the women of the city must come daily. Humbly he prayed for guidance, but wisely he proposed a plan which would test the character of the women he would encounter. There was no spectacular revelation, nor did there need to be. Wisdom could discern a woman of great worth.

1.The servant's prayer is a very appropriate one, because he knew
he was on a god-sent mission , inasmuch as Abraham told him that
he would be guided by an angel. Quite often, I believe that God answers our prayers with the help of others being involved. If we
focus too much on Abraham, we miss the work that God is doing in
the servant in being part of the overall will of God. All things and persons WORK TOGETHER for good to those who love God and are
called according to His purpose.

2. I,also, do not believe his prayer to be hasty. The servant had a
long journey, and definitely wanted to obey his master's orders.
I'm sure having been in the house of Abraham, that the servant was
very aware of the hand of God upon the House of Abraham. I would
say that the servant wanting to do the right thing and not do things
amiss, would have called on God unceasingly for the success of his
journey to find a wife for Isaac. He certainly did find the right girl, for
what woman would have responded the way Rebekah did, knowing
all the work that was involved, as well as the servant being a stranger.

A believe the servant's prayer was one of faith and trust.
I believe he found the right girl because not everyone would want to draw water for 10 thirsty camels.
His prayer may have seem hasty, but I'm sure he must have been praying concerning the matter of a wife for Isaac thruout his journey.

Yes I think Rebekkah was the answer to the prayer if hasty or not she was the one there at the right place and time and tended to all those camels

I think the prayer was okay because God already had chosen the woman that Isaac was to have for his wife. It was good that the servant was obedient and trusted God for the answer.The angel of God had gone before him and spoke to Rebekah and she was obedient to respond to the angel. The servant watched Abraham so had alot of the same qualities that Abraham did in trusting and having the faith in God.

Jesus said that a wicked and corrupt generation seeks for a sign, however, this man had total faith in God, and wasn't asking for any godlike manifestations. He was seeking that character would be revealed to him. It was himself he doubted, and the stakes were too high for him to be wrong. Considering the task at hand and what all was at stake, the servant wanted peace and confirmation in his own mind, and had faith that God would provide it. I don't think it was hasty. With all that pressure, I think it was very human.

While Abraham told the servant an angel would go before him, how would the servant know which girl the angel would choose? Therefore, he had to establish some way of knowing which girl the angel would choose. God did not rebuke him for doing this but honored his request thus demonstrating that God was not angry but understanding and merciful.

Q3 (24:12-14) What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God?
It was a prayer of faith. He trusted the Lord to take him to the right girl.

Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer? If not, then how?
Yes he did. His faith was rewarded

Q3 (24:12-14) What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God? Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer? If not, then how?

I think the servant's prayer was probably brought to his mind by God and by seeing it answered it gave him reassurance that this was the right girl.

Lesson 11 Q 3
(a) The servant's prayer and test of God is the servant trusted Abraham's God and I believed passed the test of God because he prayed for guidance.
(b) I am not sure this was a hasty prayer, for as soon as he got to the well he prayed for guidance. I believe the servant would have found the right girl even if he didn't pray because "The Lord', already told Abraham that he would send his anel before his servant to get a wife for Isaac. All Abraham's servant had to do was trust in Abraham's God with all his "heart and lean not on his own understanding". (Proverbs 3)

What do you think of the servant's prayer and test of God? Did the servant find the right girl on the basis of his hasty prayer? If not, then how?
It doesn't take long elegant prayers to get God's attention just a prayer from an earnest heart seeking an answer within God's will and not our own **** desires. (**** being anything that boost us up material or otherwise that doesn't glorify God.) He made his request known ands it was for his master needs not his own and he was asking for God's will not his own to point out the right person.
Yes God answered his prayer, it was made with a truthful heart and desire that flesh not pick the woman so God sent the one he needed. There are times God doesn't want us to fleece him but to just step out on faith and believe but there are times when we feel the flesh may be to much involved I believe to fleece the Lord is a good thing.